At His Best / At His Worst

[springrite]

OK, I avoided the vs. so people don't confuse this one with the series of vs. threads.

We all have our favorite artists. But there are some that are harder to pin down with a simple conclusive judgement. I will give you one example--Pierre Boulez. At his best, he gives you a most intelligent performance with details and insights that are eye-opening. At his worst, he can give you an autopsy.

A interesting example of both, for me anyway, is his Mahler 7. It has always been my least favorite Mahler symphony, along with the 8th. But one listening to the Boulez some 15 years ago gave me such incredible insights. I heard things that I never heard before, with the clarity and logic and incisiveness that the music suddenly clicked with me. Since then, the 7th has become my favorite Mahler symphony. However, as I fell in love with the 7th and listened to more and more recordings by different artists, the Boulez went lower and lower in my personal ranking of favorite recordings of the 7th. Now it sounds like a cold autopsy lacking feeling, emotion, connectiveness, etc.

I could name many other artists that would fit the topic of this thread but I will leave it to you all.

[DavidW]

Interesting that single recording became an example of the conductor being at his best and at his worst at the same time... the only thing of course which changed was your perspective.

Well many people think the exact reverse of what I'm about to say... but Bernstein and Mahler 6.  In the earlier sony/columbia recording he is at his worse because he offered a rushed, perfunctory performance that I think many of his early recordings are like.  His later recording of the Mahler 6th on the DG label is him at his best with a very thoughtful, heartfelt statement from an artist sharing both his passion for Mahler and his own life experience.  It is tragic and grand with the emotional complexity and wisdom that only the older Bernstein had to offer.

[val]

Try Bernstein with New York. Not as clear as Boulez but much more enthusiastic.